Final Fantasy VII: The Wutai War
by savinglifelessness
Summary: With the news of the final loss of Shin-Ra and the death of Sephiroth leaking out, Wutai has declared war. Against the wishes of the women they care for, Cloud, Vincent, and Barret have joined the military that has formed. Sequel to A Valentine Christmas.
1. Prologue

A/N: Well, I suppose I finally went about writing a sequel. Though this isn't going to be much like _Valentine Christmas_, if everything goes as planned. Be prepared, this fic has some strong cursing, and while I try to avoid it, a lot of OOCness. Forgive me father, for I have sinned…

Disclaimer: This is a FFVII fic by Savinglifelessness. I own no characters except those you haven't heard of, meaning the ones I've made. Enjoy!

**Chaos**

_Vincent_

Summary: With the news of the final loss of Shin-Ra and the death of Sephiroth leaking out, Wutai has declared war. Against the wishes of the women they care for, Cloud, Vincent, and Barret have joined the military that has formed and are heading out to war.

Without further ado…

**Final Fantasy VII: The Wutai War**

**Prologue:**

Vincent sat with his eyes closed, listening to the hum of the airships engines. In his hand, he held a small golden ring. He played with it, rolling it between his fingers as he remembered the day he got it, 6 months ago.

_Clang, clang._

_ A flock of birds took flight, surprised as the clear notes of the two bronze bells rang out through the silence of Nibelheim._

_ At an altar, stood a beautiful young woman in a flowing white dress. Next to her stood a man with long black hair, desperately trying to find a subtle way to hide his arm._

_ "Just relax," the woman whispered out of the corner of her mouth._

_ "Sorry," he replied, bringing his full attention to the pastor in front of him when he heard his name._

_ "…do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?"_

_ "I do," he replied._

_**About damn time.**_

For the love of all that is holy, on this one day, please shut up.

_ He returned his attention back to the altar just in time to hear "You may kiss the bride."_

_ He turned to face his new wife and felt a blush creeping up his pale face as her beauty took him by surprise yet again. Her long black hair hung freely, soft curls framing her face. A long white dress covered her body, small diamonds placed all over it, shining in the bright July sun._

_ Giving a rare smile, he cupped her face in one hand leaned in, pausing only to whisper how beautiful she was before kissing her. Immediately, cheers from the small audience erupted, sending even more birds to the air._

_ "Hmm," the woman said as they broke apart, "Yuffie Valentine has a bit of a ring to it, doesn't it?"_

_ Vincent smiled again, then, with an arm around her waist, turned and waved to the audience._

His thoughts were interrupted as the ship jerked to a halt. A ramp in the back lowered, allowing light and an intense amount of heat to pour in. A man in a desert uniform stood at the foot of it, three pointed stripes on each collar representing the rank of sergeant.

"Welcome to Wutai ladies," he grunted, "get yer shit and report to your barracks."

---

Well, hope you like the prologue, R&R please!


	2. Heat and a Fight

A/N: I should probably warn you all, that there is a lot of OOC in this story, particularly on Vincent's part. Marriage changes a man, afterall.

**Chapter 1: Heat and a Fight**

Vincent sighed as he entered the barracks he was assigned to. He found an empty bunk near the entrance and threw his bag onto it. Cloud followed suit and stripped off his already sweat-soaked jacket and hung it on the corner of his bunk.

"Damn! Is it always going to be this hot?" Barret exclaimed as he muscled his way in through the door. Vincent merely glanced at him, before stepping past him and walking outside.

"Where are you going?" Barret yelled out the door, Vincent ignored him and kept walking.

"Let him be Barret," Cloud said, sitting on his bed.

"Hmph," Barret grunted, "Let's go see if there's anything to drink around here."

**What's going on?**

_Nothing you need to concern yourself with Chaos._

Vincent ignored anything else Chaos said and continued walking until he was at the edge of camp, just along the coast. He held out his clawed arm and activated his fire materia, allowing a small ball of flame to appear in his palm.

_"Why?" she had asked, standing at the other side of the table, her hands on her hips. "Why do you need to go?"_

_ "Yuffie," Vincent started, trying to sound calm to hopefully stop his wife's temper from exploding, "I have a duty."_

_ "A duty to what? Go and get yourself killed?"_

_ "No Yuffie, to protect you." He said, taking a moment to let Yuffie breathe and calm down._

_ She opened her mouth as if to speak, but stopped, staring at him in surprise._

_ "Protect me?" She asked, "You think I need protecting? I fought Sephiroth! Twice! And you think I need protecting?!"_

_ Vincent said nothing, knowing that nothing would calm her now._

_ "I'm not Lucrecia, Vincent! I'm not helpless! I don't-" Yuffie gasped as she realized what she had said. "Vinnie wait, I didn't mean-"_

_ "My bus leaves in an hour." Vincent said, then turned and left the dining room._

Vincent extinguished the flame in his palm and stood, staring out at the blue waters that stretched to the horizon. "Sorry Yuffie," he said quietly, then turned around and walked back to camp. When he reentered his barracks, he found a folded uniform on his bed. He picked up the top article and unfolded it to find a button up jacket, with a camouflage pattern on it. Above the right breast pocket was Vincent's last name stitched into the cloth.

"New uniforms," a voice said behind him, Vincent turned his head and saw someone he didn't know, wearing the same uniform he was holding in his hand. "We're all required to wear them."

Vincent tossed the jacket back onto his bed and pulled out Cerberus, then sat on his bed and quickly disassembled the weapon, placing each part on the jacket.

"Nice looking weapon you got there."

Vincent grunted, hoping that if he ignored the guy enough he would go away.

"You got a name bro?"

Vincent stared at him, then grunted and looked back at his disassembled gun.

"Hey man, look. I don't know you, and you don't know me. But I'm here to fight same as you. If we're gonna be watching each others' backs, why don't we try and get to know each other?"

Vincent again ignored him, concentrating on meticulously cleaning the sand that had collected all over his tri-barreled revolver.

"Did you even go to boot camp?" The young soldier asked yet again. Figuring that the best way to get him to shut up would be to reply, Vincent did so.

"No."

"What? What the hell are you doing here? The last thing we need is an un-trained idiot in combat."

In a flash Cerberus was back together and loaded and pointing at the soldier's face.

"I've seen more combat than you likely will in this war."

"Woah, what's going on?" Both looked over at the entrance to see Cloud standing at the entrance, silhouetted by the bright sunlight outside.

Vincent quickly holstered his weapon. The soldier glared at him, and Vincent quickly got up and pushed his way past Cloud and started to walk away.

"Dinner's in fifteen," Cloud called after him, Vincent ignored him but veered off, heading towards a tent that had a large line in front of it.

**The kid made a good point, you know.**

_ He doesn't need to worry about me._

** Wasn't saying he did.**

Vincent frowned, but ignored Chaos' words and kept walking, eventually arriving at the line.

"Is this where we eat?" he asked.

A soldier with only half his uniform on turned to Vincent and jumped slightly in surprise. "Woah, dude you need to get your uniform on. If the General or one of the lieutenants sees you walking around like that, you're ass is grass man."

Vincent frowned, and glanced down at the clothes he was currently wearing. "These work better than the ones you're wearing."

"Nonetheless man, rules is rules."

**Another excellent point.**

_Who's side are you on?_

**The one that says 'if you're going to do a dumbassed thing like this, then do it right.'**

"Come on, I'll teach you all the regulations and garbage."

Before Vincent could protest, he was being pulled away from the line and dragged back to the barracks he had just left. An hour later, Vincent knew more than he thought was even possible to know about wearing a shirt, pants, boots, and a jacket with a hat.

He rejoined the now very short line back at the dinner tent with the soldier Vincent identified as Sergeant Beck.

"We'll get you a haircut after we eat." The sergeant informed him, grabbing a metal tray from a rack next to him.

Vincent started to protest, but Chaos interrupted him.

**Rules is rules. **_**Vinnie**_**.**

Vincent winced as Chaos mimicked Yuffie's voice.

_Chaos… go to hell._

**Already been there.**

Vincent fell silent and grabbed a tray behind the sergeant.

"So you got a name private?" the sergeant asked jokingly.

"Vincent Valentine."

"Valentine huh? Well, welcome to Bravo platoon, I'm Sergeant Tyler Beck, your squad leader." Sergeant Beck stuck out his hand, but faltered slightly when Vincent only stared at it. After a few seconds Sergeant Beck lowered his hand and turned back to the line of lukewarm food waiting in the metal trays in front of him. After scooping a portion of the food onto his plate, and then Vincent's, he walked to an empty table and sat down. Vincent followed suit, not knowing where else to go. As he sat down the sergeant glanced up at Vincent and chuckled.

"I have not seen a uniform look so fucked up before." Sergeant Beck commented, engrossing himself in the food on his tray. Vincent glanced down at it and sighed, the food looked nor smelled appetizing. Sergeant Beck noticed the look on his face and laughed.

"Don't worry Valentine, after a while you stop hating it and learn to just look at it as fuel." Vincent glanced up at him and promptly pushed the tray away. "I'm not hungry."

Again the Sergeant laughed, "Alright man, PT is at zero six tomorrow, be fifteen minutes early."

Vincent stood up and left, heading back to his barracks. _What have I gotten myself into?_ He thought, _I should be at home… Yuffie is probably worried sick._

**Is Yuffie the only reason you came here?**

_Not now Chaos._

**She isn't. Ha ha, the ever selfless Valentine isn't as selfless as everyone thought he was.**

_Will you ever stop talking?_

**So what's the reason? Is it just that you're bored after these months of peace, and you want a fight?**

_What?_

**Don't deny it, **_**Vinnie**_**, you know you want a fight. You want to see blood spilled.**

_No Chaos, that is you. If anything, I want to be home._

**Yet you willingly chose to come here.**

_For a damn good reason._

Vincent was starting to get angry at Chaos' words. And his pace quickened as he neared the barracks. Ignoring Chaos' words, he sat down at the foot of his bunk, opened his footlocker and began neatly folding his old clothes, placing them at the bottom for protection. An hour later, Sergeant Beck appeared with a pair of electric shears in his hand.

"Come on Valentine, time to give you a haircut."

Vincent was silent as Sergeant Beck cut off his long unkempt locks of hair, leaving only short stubble on the sides, and maybe an inch or two on the top of his head. Vincent absently scratched at it, the small hairs that had been shaved off stuck to his skin and made it itch.

"Now you look like an honest, by-god soldier. See you tomorrow."

---

A/N: Well, what'd ya think? R&R please!


	3. Early Mornings and Explosions

A/N: Well, here's the next chapter.

I need feedback like I need food. R&R, you know you want to.

_Disclaimer: I don't own FFVII or any of it's characters. Any characters made by me, are mine._

**Chapter 2: Early Mornings and Explosions**

A loud crash startled Vincent from his sleep. Instantly he had his hand on Cerberus and was preparing to aim at the source of the disturbance.

"UP AND AT 'EM!" barked a familiar voice, "PT IN TEN!"

All around Vincent, bodies were groaning and rolling out of bed, hastily pulling on their uniforms. Vincent started to follow suit, before he was stopped by the boy who had disturbed him the previous day.

"You don't need your blouse for that man, just boots and utes."

Vincent grunted in response, then tossed his camouflage jacket onto his bunk. A few minutes later, he was outside in the early morning heat.

"*&%$! It's only 6 and it's already goddamn hot!" Vincent heard Barrett rumble. After a few minutes, Vincent saw Sergeant Beck march out and he led them through some stretching exercises, then a 5 mile run, and lastly a heavy upper body workout.

Soldiers around Vincent were gasping, and some, throwing up. Cloud and Barrett, Vincent noted, were one of the few who weren't doubled over. Compared to some of the troubles they had all been through, this was cake.

**Don't get complacent**.

_Chaos, stop nagging me._

**Don't give me a reason to then.**

"Private Valentine!" He heard his name yelled from the front of the platoon. Vincent walked up to the sergeant that called him, giving him a curious glance.

At this the sergeant exploded, "When you walk up to me Private, you will give me the proper greeting of the day! And when I call you up, you will report to me! Do you under-fucking-stand me private!?"

"Yes Sergeant," he said quietly, which only seemed to anger the Sergeant even more.

"Now report to processing! You and the other two jackasses that showed up yesterday for-fucking-got what you were doing when you got here!" Vincent jogged away, and soon met up with Cloud and Barrett. As they entered the administration tent, the clerk did a double-take at the odd trio in front of him.

"Holy shit," he breathed, after seeing Barrett's metal 'hand'.

"We're here for processing," Cloud explained.

"Ah," The clerk said, "Well, you two," he pointed at Cloud and Barrett, "Sit there, you," this time he pointed at Vincent, "need to give me your information."

Obediently, Cloud and Barrett sat, while Vincent stood there, somewhat uncomfortable.

"Name," the clerk said.

"Vincent Valentine." He replied.

"Date of birth,"

Vincent paused, how old was he?

"October 13th, 1984."

"You're 27?"

"Yes."

"Blood type?"

"A"

"Height?"

"6' 2""

The clerk typed all of his information in, and printed it out and handed it to Vincent. "Give this to the guy behind that door, he'll get your dog tags made."

Vincent grabbed the sheet and continued on, leaving Cloud and Barrett behind. Eventually, after a few hours and a painful experience with the doctor, he was free.

Not sure of where to go, he headed back to his barracks. After entering, he found it nearly empty, save for a Lance Corporal on the bunk above his.

"Hey," said the Lance Corporal, who Vincent identified as Lance Corporal Tuschenair by the nametape on his blouse. "I'm your Fire Team Leader. I hear you just got in-country yesterday."

Vincent nodded and sat down on his bunk, really hoping for some time to be alone. However, much to his dismay, it did not seem like he was going to get a lot, for Tuschenair hopped off of his bunk and sat down next to Vincent. "Hey man, you look like you're having a bit of trouble here, I heard you get chewed out this morning after PT."

Vincent glanced as him, then closed his eyes and leaned against the wall.

His fire team leader paused, then said "Well, I found the best way to deal with being here is to write home. It's good to get things off your chest to someone who will sympathize with you," at this he hopped off Vincent's bunk, "anyways, I was told you have weapons training at 11. It's 9:51 right now, so you have a little over an hour. You can show up early if you want, I'll be there waiting."

Vincent grunted in reply, and Tuschenair left. Finally finding the degree of solitude he had wanted, Vincent sighed and contemplated his fire team leaders words.

_I can't write home… The last thing Yuffie wants is to hear from me._

**How do you know?**

_Because I'm married to her. I know that all I'm going to get in return is grief._

Chaos sighed **You'll never know until you try.**

Vincent felt his temper growing, _I think, I would know my wife,_ he snarled at Chaos.

**Fine, do as you please, not my fault if you fuck up, right?**

Vincent frowned, _What?_ But there was no reply from Chaos.

Ignoring his companions silence, Vincent stood up and headed outside. But, as he began to wonder just where the rifle range was, a loud explosion shook the ground. Small bits of shrapnel made puffs of dust as they landed in the sand around Vincent's feet. A warning horn sounded over the sounds of gunfire and men yelling.

Vincent glanced in the direction of the explosion, and saw a mass of men running in all directions, everywhere but the explosion. The reports of rifle fire echoed to him, and he heard the zip and crack of bullets passing by him. Calmly, Vincent walked towards the explosion, scanning the area outside of the camp for the source of the gunfire. Faintly, his eyes picked up the flashes on a far away cliff, which would explain the inaccuracy of the bullets. As he neared the site of the explosion, he noticed Cloud and Barrett, standing off to the side.

"See them?" Cloud asked as they approached Vincent. Vincent nodded, and they both looked to Barrett.

"What?" he asked, lifting his hands in the universal 'don't-look-at-me' sign.

"Could you possibly use your gun to shoot them?" Cloud's face twitched as a bullet pinged off of the blade of his sword.

"Sorry, but that's too far." Barrett shrugged again, his gun-arm forming back into a hand.

"Vincent?" Cloud asked. Vincent frowned, Cerberus was by no means a sniper rifle.

"It's a long shot," he stated, "but I suppose shooting back is better than doing nothing."

More bullets pinged off of the ground around him, and Vincent pulled out a fire Materia from a slot in his gauntlet, slid it into the main slot on Cerberus, aimed, and fired at the cliff.

A large fireball raced towards the figures, and impacted the cliff, setting the entire cliff ablaze. A group of soldiers, mostly medics, stopped short, staring wide-eyed at Vincent, Cloud, and Barrett.

"What the-" one of them exclaimed, before being pushed aside by Sergeant Beck.

"Valentine, holster that weapon and follow me." Vincent slid Cerberus back into its holster, and without a word, followed Beck back into camp. As Vincent caught up, Sergeant Beck muttered quietly "Just what the fuck was that?"

Vincent shrugged, and continued walking.

Sergeant Beck glared at him, before continuing "Well, whatever the fuck it was, our Commanding Officer saw it, so be prepared for something."

After another minute or so of walking, Vincent was led into a solid structure, unlike the tents that were scattered around the compound. With a sharp knock, the Sergeant called out "General Hennessy, I've brought Private Valentine."

"Let him in." Came a sharp voice from inside the structure.

Sergeant Beck opened the door, and pushed Vincent in, then shut the door behind him. Inside the building, which was really a large office for the General, Vincent quickly took in the details of the room. In the far right corner was a glass liquor cabinet, half-full of many multi-colored drinks, with a stack of glasses resting on the top shelf. Adorning the back wall was a multitude of pictures of what Vincent assumed to be the general's family. To his right was a small desk with an antique record player, softly playing music that Vincent identified as 'classical'. In the center of the office was a large desk, and a broad shouldered, balding man sitting behind it.

"Did you forget how to report in private?"

Vincent stared at him for a moment, before remembering what the Sergeant had screamed at him earlier that morning. "Private Valentine reporting as ordered," he stated.

"I'm going to be blunt private, what was that little display out there?"

Vincent again shrugged, staring at the general.

"Private, when I ask a question, I expect an answer."

**Vincent, what the fuck are you doing?**

_Choas, how would you explain materia to them?_

**Call it magic and leave it at that.**

"Private! Are you listening to me?"

Vincent snapped back to the real world, and resumed staring at the General, who pulled out three folders and laid them on the desk.

"I got the file on you and your friends. Lovely band of freaks aren't yeh?"

Vincent coughed slightly, still staring at the general.

"Alright Valentine, I'm going to lay this out. You, Private Strife, and Private Wallace all have some sort of special abilities. Wallace has a gun for a fucking hand, you can apparently shoot fireballs out of that damn revolver, and I'm still not sure what the hell Strife can do."

"He was in SOLDIER," Vincent said suddenly, which surprised the General.

"So you can talk. SOLDIER eh? Good, that'll give us something to fight back with." The general pulled out another folder, opened it, and slid it across the desk to Vincent. Frowning, Vincent picked it up and read the first page. 'Top Secret: Eyes Only' was printed in large bold letters across the top.

"We're forming a special squad, to counter the new weapons that Wutai has procured from the black market." Vincent flipped past the first few pages, and stopped when he saw some familiar schematics.

**Those are Mako submersion chambers.**

_Are they trying to recreate the SOLDIER program?_

**Looks like it'll be the exact opposite of the previous war.**

_If they actually create SOLDIERs… this army is doomed._

** No shit. Nobody but you Spikey and Wallace are prepared to deal with SOLDIERs. Especially Wutaian SOLDIERs. Last time even Sephiroth had some trouble dealing with the Samurai. I don't want to know what they would be like with amped up strength, agility, and regenerative abilities.**

"- that elite squad." The general was saying. Vincent snapped his focus back to what was in front of him, and asked the general to repeat himself. The general gave him a stern look, "I said we wanted you three to be that elite squad."

**Make the best of this one. You've got him in the palm of your hand, let him know it.**

_Will you stop telling me what to do?_

"I will, on a few conditions."

The general snorted, but nodded at Vincent to continue.

"I want to go home early."

The general looked at him, "How early?"

"As soon as I'm done with this."

The general nodded, "That can be taken care of. But I know you want more than just that."

"I want out of this uniform."

The general laughed, a loud, barking laugh. "Even easier private."

"So obviously, the fact that Wutai is now using guns and explosives, not materia, and they have what is obviously Shin-Ra technology used for making SOLDIERS, means that somebody gave it to them."

"Correct."

"So is it safe to assume you want us three to find and eliminate whoever it is that's supplying them?"

The general frowned, "What made you think that?"

Vincent opened his mouth, prepared to explain his history of being in the Turks, but then stopped himself, "guessed," he lied.

"It's a mission, but not quite as stealthy. We want you to go in and destroy every piece of Shin-Ra technology that you can find. Your main objective is of course, the mako chambers."

"Any specific things we can't do?"

"Not much, use your own judgment. Now, it says you're married to a Wutaian girl. Is that correct?"

Vincent stiffened, _How did they know?_

**Don't know, but I'd keep it under wraps that she's Godo's daughter.**

"Yes it is."

"Who is she?"

Vincent glared at the general. "Does it matter?" He said, fear for his wife's safety growing inside his chest.

"Only for purposes of intel. Don't worry," he added, seeing the look on Vincent's face, "no harm is going to come to her."

"Her name is Hana," Vincent lied. If they ever found out who he was married to, Vincent would be screwed.

**In a rather unpleasant fashion too, I would imagine.**

_Shut up, Chaos._

The general scribbled a few things on a sheet of paper, placed it into Vincent's file, closed it and placed it in a drawer in his desk. "Very well then private, you are hereby meritoriously promoted to the rank of sergeant. Congratulations." He, like Sergeant Beck the day previous, stuck out his hand. Vincent again stared at it, then looked up at the general, who shook his head slightly and sat back down. "You're dismissed," he said. With that, Vincent turned and left his office.

Outside the heat had risen, and Vincent, despite his usual stoic demeanor, found himself uncomfortable in the heat.

**Try writing a letter to Yuffie. I mean it Vincent.** **You're concerned for her, and in battle you don't need a distraction like a concern for the issues at home. Ease your mind a bit.**

Despite Vincent's earlier protests, he knew Chaos was right, and headed to his barracks to write her a letter.

_Three hours later…_

The sun was past its zenith, but everything was still excruciatingly hot. Vincent had changed out of his uniform, and found he felt much cooler in his regular clothes. However, they did not help him change the fact that he couldn't figure out how to write a letter to his wife. Crumpled up papers surrounded him and covered his bunk. Sighing in resignation, Vincent figured that short and sweet would probably be best, if she even read the letter before burning it.

_Yuffie,_

_ Some strange questions are being asked, especially concerning those who have any relation with Wutai. Be on your guard, as I fear this military may be as crooked as the one Shin-Ra employed._

_ Love,_

_ Vincent._

_---_

A/N: Well, this one was a bit tough to write. I wasn't exactly sure what to do with this chapter. I know that Vincent and Chaos are a lot different than they were in A Valentine Christmas, this is because I'm trying to keep Vincent more in character than last time, so a lot of his answers and reactions to people are more short and anti-social. As for the dialogue between Vincent and Chaos, Chaos is an interesting character to try to write for. On the one hand, he enjoys antagonizing and annoying Vincent to no end, but on the other he realizes that he –though he'll never admit it- has grown fond of Vincent, and ultimately tries to make sure he doesn't do something that'll get him killed. Most of the dialogue in the past two chapters has been Chaos just stating the obvious to annoy Vincent, which is why Vincent sometimes replies with just 'Shut up, Chaos.'

Anyways, R&R, please.


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